Dreaming in Sync
by Kitarin
Summary: Marvelous paces the Galleon in the middle of the night, checking up on his crew... but sometimes they go missing. What to do? Follow them!


**Author's Notes:** This was a little something written in an hour to cheer up my Princess. There will probably be more Gokaiger fic in the future. XD**  
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><p>Marvelous tends to pace the Galleon in the middle of the night.<p>

Maybe it's a nervous energy born of too many years on the move, on the run – he doesn't always sleep well, and pacing tends to relax him until he finds a room to stay in until morning.

Maybe it's the fact that there's always something else ahead on their path to ponder over, some little tidbit that will lead them further ahead in their quest. It's very difficult to shut his mind off, though he only ever shares a fraction of his thoughts.

Still, maybe it's just an obsession with always knowing what every member of his crew is up to. Though he'll never say so, their well-being is his well-being, and achieving their dreams is part of achieving his.

Usually, they're predictable - Joe and his one-armed push-ups and his cake-making, Hakase cleaning room to room to room in a never-ending circle, Gai prancing after him, narrating Sentai history in a similarly endless loop… Luka keeping watch in the crow's nest more often than most… and sometimes Ahim is there, or sometimes taking tea with Joe after cake…

Tonight, though, she's nowhere to be found, and it seems unusual after the day's victory.

Too unusual.

After three rounds of the ship do not turn up his princess, Marvelous grows impatient and queries the ship's computer for her location.

Unsurprisingly, she's down on the planet.

Oddly, she's not in the city, or in any other usual place, but instead…

"Princess." Marvelous pauses several feet away from her location, but he knows that she can hear him – had to have heard his arrival across the scraggly grass-covered sand dunes.

Ahim stands with her back to her captain, barefoot in nothing but her favorite little white sundress, arms crossed over her chest for warmth. It's cool and humid on the beach, with only a sliver of a crescent moon casting a thin beam of light across the water, and the tickle of a sea spray breeze tousles her hair. She doesn't mean to ignore him, but her words are twisted up, her tongue tied with a myriad of feelings.

"I know you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself…" Marvelous continues, shrugging off his red jacket and tossing it on the sand as he takes a step forward, then another and another. Reaching down, he pulls off one boot, then the other, leaving them in the wake. "And if you really want to be alone…"

"I don't, particularly," she finally answers once she can feel his presence just behind her, his ever-emanating warmth.

"Then why leave the ship?"

"I… simply… wanted to be _here_. On Earth."

"And if I want to be _here_ too?"

Ahim looks out over the water, where the tapestry of stars disappears at the horizon line, and smiles, even though she knows Marvelous can't see it. She knows that he'll feel it. "It's no trouble to me at all."

"Good," Marvelous wraps his arms around Ahim from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder with a comfortable sigh, grateful when she sinks back into his embrace. "Will you tell me what's on your mind?"

Ahim hums thoughtfully, but doesn't answer, taking a moment to collect her thoughts first, as always. Even when she does speak, the words are measured and careful. "There is much on my mind. …About today's victory… about the people lost, and those who remain… avenging my parents, my home…"

"Is it not a cause for celebration?" Marvelous intones in response, but stops his query when he realizes that the thin frame against his is trembling. "Ahim?"

No further explanation comes, but the pink ranger turns in red's arms, burying her face against with chest and winding her arms around him tightly.

"Today is a day when a dream came true…" Marvelous smiles for her because she can't, not yet, and pets her hair a little. "It must be quite overwhelming, to reach that point…and to decide what to live for next."

Ahim nods and takes a shaky breath, neither concealing nor showing her tears, safe against the familiar smells of leather and gun powder and something uniquely comfortable and distinctly Marvelous. "Do not worry - I will stay strong for all those who remain."

"We will stay strong together," Marvelous corrects her gently, leaning to press a soft kiss to her damp cheek.

"I thought I would feel greater triumph," she finally confesses, stepping back just enough to look up at him. "But now my desire is only greater to go after Zangyack itself and end the tyranny forever."

"And that's exactly what we're going to do!" a voice interrupts the tender moment, and the two rangers step apart to the arrival of their friends. "All of us together – we'll bring peace to the whole galaxy!"

"Gai!" Luka elbows the silver ranger hard for his interruption, nearly knocking him over, then waves sheepishly at Marvelous and Ahim. "We decided to join you!"

"It seemed the perfect night for a picnic," Don adds, stepping past the two of them to hold up an enormous wicker basket, pleased when Ahim smiles and Marvelous' eyes light up.

Joe is the last of their friends to step forward, and he tosses a blanket at Marvelous with a small smile before nodding to Ahim. "And it's a beautiful night, a perfect place to watch the stars."

Together, Marv and Joe spread out the large woven blanket for the crew, and Don and Gai begin passing around the snacks. Luka hands Ahim her favorite pink shawl before they join the circle, and soon all six are happily overfed and drowsy.

Afterwards, they sprawl on their backs, Ahim's head in Marv's lap, Marv's in Joe's, Joe's in Don's, Don's in Gai's, Gai's in Luka's and Luka's in Ahim's… tracing the stars and telling the same old stories, dreaming in sync of the day when Earth's treasure would be theirs.


End file.
